


The Laws of the Jungle

by Asterne_In_a_Sky, KMKH



Category: Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cats, Cat!AU, Drama, F/M, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 22:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19327201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asterne_In_a_Sky/pseuds/Asterne_In_a_Sky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/KMKH/pseuds/KMKH
Summary: Cats of higher rank have the right to groom cats of lower rank.Gilgamesh wants to groom Arturia. Arturia will not stand for this.





	The Laws of the Jungle

**Author's Note:**

> **Asterne_In_a_Sky** : I WANT TO BE GROOMED BY CAT!GIL MAKE ME YOUR BUTLER AND WATCH ARTY GROOM YOU
> 
>  **KMKH** : another short cat!AU, mostly humorous ;) enjoy!
> 
> (we're [here](https://agilartlogbook.tumblr.com/) on tumblr)

  
…

 

Letting out a low growl, Arturia’s expression turned menacing. There was no chance she would allow the arrogant ginger cat to groom her.

 

To cats, the rank between one another determined many things: the order in which they ate food, who should and would groom the other, and so on. Arturia had never cared for ranks, having always remained neutral as much as possible. But it seemed that her lack of recognition when it came to the ‘levels’ had made another cat – she didn’t even know his name – believe he had the opportunity and the  _right_ to groom her. He obviously believed her rank to be inferior to his.

 

She was not going to let this happen.

 

Therefore, she challenged him to a fight, to actually determine whose rank was higher.

 

…

 

It didn’t last very long. Unsurprisingly, he had not taken her seriously when she had challenged him, and as a result, he had lost. He may have been bigger and technically stronger, but he had severely underestimated her and had now paid for his oversight.

Given that she was so small, the fact that he had not thought her to be a real menace wasn’t perhaps surprising, but Arturia had been unable to completely suppress her satisfaction at putting the arrogant cat in his place. So with a few swift movements she had been able to pin him to the ground, with all her weight on him.

However, she had forgotten the main reason why she usually preferred to remain neutral in those kind of ranking decisions: grooming. She never let anyone groom her – allowing only their owner Irisviel to brush her on occasion – and she never groomed anyone, which allowed her to keep her aura of detached aloofness.

 

That was how Irisviel found herself treated to the rather singular sight of her small cat Arturia grooming a slightly grumpy-looking Gilgamesh, whose obvious scowl seemed to gradually reduce and be replaced by a more pleased look. He even started to let out some contented purrs.

 

To Gilgamesh’s dismay, the pleasurable feeling of being groomed was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of their irritating owner, Irisviel. She had over a dozen cats to look after, but for some reason, she always seemed to know where Arturia was. Without shifting from his position, as he did not intend to make Arturia stop in her ministrations, Gilgamesh examined her from the corner of his half-lidded eyes.

Only when he noticed what she was holding in her hand did he let out a loud and sudden hiss.

 

The human woman stopped, and Arturia startled slightly from her position on top of him, but he simply turned his head to stare at the human, who was holding a comb.

His eyes were fixated on her with a glare; did she truly believe she was worthy of grooming him? Only Arturia had earned that honour, and this human, whom he merely _tolerated_ on the best of days, certainly had no right to come anywhere close to him.

The woman was staring at him with her eyebrows raised in surprise, but she came closer anyway. It was obvious that she had not fully realized how displeased he was.

Gilgamesh let out a second hiss, in clear warning, and it was so unexpected that Arturia was almost shaken off him. But as soon as he felt her shift on top of him, he immediately settled back, not wanting her to fall. He wanted her to stay there, after all.

 

Arturia, however, was apparently not going to be a silent witness to his behaviour towards their owner. Contrary to him, she had always been fond of Irisviel, and to his surprise, he felt a hint of claws as she pressed down on his fur, and she let out a hiss as well, its volume as threatening as his own had been.

 

Irisviel just stared at the two cats, her increased confusion obvious to see in her expression.

 

Arturia hissed again, facing Gilgamesh, and he didn’t stop glaring and hissing at Irisviel; the result was a curious cacophony of hissing that couldn’t help but make Irisviel gawk at the two cats in bewilderment.

 

It was when he realized Arturia had stopped grooming him to hiss at him that Gilgamesh turned silent. He would never tolerate Irisviel’s presence around him, but he wanted the small white cat to keep licking his fur, and that meant that he had to stop threatening the human woman.

He struggled for a moment with the decision, but his desire for Arturia’s undivided attention was stronger than his dislike for Irisviel, and therefore he settled down, waiting for her to resume touching him without claws.

 

Even though Arturia was displeased by it, she knew better than to try and push him to accept Irisviel’s touch; the fact that he had stopped hissing at her was already an incredible result, and she grudgingly chose to settle for that.

However, having stopped threatening Irisviel wasn’t enough to convince her to start grooming him again, and she simply jumped off him, turning away and clearly indicating that she was about to leave.

 

Gilgamesh was having none of that.

 

With a jump forward, now mindful of her speed, he trapped her underneath him, making it very clear that he wanted her to continue grooming him.

While Arturia hissed at him in displeasure, she was unable to avoid noticing that he wasn’t doing anything more than requesting that she keep grooming him, which she in theory had to do since she had won the challenge against him. It would have been far too easy for him to take advantage of their position to start grooming her himself and therefore establish the superiority he had been so proud of before their fight. Instead, he was respecting the new ranks that had been decided earlier.

 

Irisviel watched the scene from afar, and even though she knew that cats were complex creatures to begin with, she was decidedly confused by Arturia and Gilgamesh’s behaviour.

 

Eventually, Arturia managed to dislodge him enough to begin grooming him again, her tongue patiently going over his fur. Gilgamesh let out a happy purr, and she waited until he seemed relaxed, then pushed him off without warning.

Although she had appreciated his earlier strange behaviour that indicated some respect towards her, she would not stand for staying trapped underneath him.

She chose however not to walk away; climbing back on top of him, she found a comfortable position to sit in on his back and started to leisurely groom him once more.

 

From the other side of the room, Irisviel couldn’t help smiling while watching the rest of the scene unfold. If Gilgamesh’s relaxed posture and Arturia’s soft purrs were any indication, it truly seemed that peace had returned to the house.

 

…

 


End file.
